Review

Eleanor Jones is still new-ish in her small country town, having moved there with her single mum Min, a nurse in the local hospital. She now has a great group of friends and maybe a boyfriend… and due to her crime solving abilities, everyone seems to know who she is. Min and local policewoman Holly want her to stay safely out of local crime from now on.

But when a house in her street burns down in suspicious circumstances, Eleanor’s curiosity is piqued – especially when she finds an anonymous note warning her to keep out of it. Eleanor Jones and her friends are on the case… and there are plenty of suspects.

*

If you enjoyed the first book Eleanor Jones Is Not a Murderer, you’ll also like this one. It’s a sweet, warmhearted and often funny country town detective novel, but it also tackles (in a PG way) some more serious issues, like toxic masculinity and the complexities of standing up for what’s right. Eleanor’s snarky & unapologetically nerdy first person narration will draw readers in, and it’s a great length at 304 pages. The minor characters are terrific, although the cast is getting large! One of the reasons it’s so appealing is, I think, the wonderful found family of a large and lovely friendship group. The tension was well handled, and I have to say, Amy Doak did keep me guessing right up to the end. There’s also a little touch of romance. This book and the first book are my favourites in the series so far.

Another great Eleanor Jones adventure! Amy Doak will be visiting our school in Book Week this year, and I’m pretty excited!

Year 7 & up.

> Click here for content info — spoilers, enter at own risk!

YA depictions of: arson; a heart attack; depictions of hospital patients: one with serious burns and one who’s on life support due to a pub fight; joyriding in stolen cars; highly perilous & potentially fatal situations (beside heart attack, no one dies); a teen girl is upset due to her nude pics being shared in a locker room by the boy she sent them to (good discussion of this issue); discussions of when and how boys and men can stand up for the right thing; angry and emotionally abusive dad; a quiet teenager with no friends is picked on at school (ends positively); a few, fairly chaste kisses. Main romance is mlw; minor relationships are mlw.

*

Doak, A. (2025). Eleanor Jones is not a murderer (L. Bond, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Penguin Random House Australia Audiobook.

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This novel was brought to me by Libby — support your local library!